Students build religious community through youth groups

Allie Keim | The Chronicle

Despite busy schedules, Mason High School (MHS) students prioritize their faith and develop deep connections with peers by attending weekly youth groups. 

Pursuing a more active role in their religions, multiple students attend youth groups, which hold meetings outside of their designated devotional times. For over two years, sophomore Jillian Moreland has attended Mason Crossroads Church and its youth group. By attending her group every Sunday evening, she has developed a deeper relationship with Christianity and looks forward to having a specific time to converse about her values. 

“All of the people [in my group] are very easy to talk to and are super open in sharing things that are going on in their lives,” Moreland said. “Together we ask for people to pray for each other and give support to anyone who needs it.”

Moreland recently joined her youth group’s band as a drum player and has had the opportunity to play both at service and middle school youth nights. While the thought of being on stage made her anxious at first, thinking of God and her ability to impact the experience of fellow church attendees makes her excited every Sunday she gets to perform. 

“[The youth group] is such a welcoming environment, and I’ve been playing [in the band] for a couple [of] weeks now,” Moreland said. “Each time [I perform] is so much fun because I get to do something I am good at while praising God. This has become such a cool part of my faith; I have the opportunity to be a leader in worship and have the ability to help others.”

Senior Will Clipson has been an active participant in Mason Young Life, a nondenominational Christian group, since his freshman year. This collection of students meets weekly for a Bible study and “club”, where devotees sing worship music, perform in skits and play games. Clipson has found that this less traditional approach to religion has helped him make devotion more fun. Through the group, Clipson has met many new people and personally takes on the role of supporting underclassmen in their faith. Similarly, he has grown a strong fellowship with many of the other boys in the group during his time attending. 

“In the beginning, I saw how caring the guys were and how loving they were to me, even though they didn’t know me,” Clipson said. “Eventually when I got to know them, it just made me want to [act] the same way to others. That’s why now I try to play an important role in guiding the underclassmen, especially when it relates to Young Life.”

Similar to Clipsons’ connection to the younger members of Young Life, through senior Vandan Mistry’s youth group, he helps to teach his religion to younger kids in his temple, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir. Mistry is constantly attempting to deepen his faith through practice and incorporates Hindu values into his teachings. Being raised in the same temple he teaches in, he attempts to make it engaging for the younger kids and share his own experiences with them. 

“A lot of our teachings are based on what we are told and having a deeper understanding [of these lessons] that we can implement into our lives,” Mistry said. “I use many stories of actual people and I figure out how to relate it to my life, so I can give the kids something they can live through. I give them many presentations and talk about important values that God has taught us.”

Coping with the challenges of high school, these students who belong to a youth group see meetings as a safe space to discuss anything that is weighing on them and seek advice. In Mistry’s personal youth group, he has developed a close-knit group of friends that help him to connect their religion to everyday decisions. 

“In high school, you have to make a lot of tough choices, sometimes you have to think back on your morals,” Mistry said. “[At youth group] when there is a debate about something, it’s really easy for yourself to think that one thing is right. But when you’re with many people, you can get other ideas and pieces of information on how you can improve yourself. You can have people with the same faith, maybe know more, and you can learn from them. I always learn something new when I talk to them.”

Sophomore Iman Usmani participates in the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati’s youth group. Comparable to Mistry, she has developed relationships with fellow members that help hold her accountable and remind her to stay consistent in her practice. 

“As a Muslim, you’re supposed to pray five times a day, and with such a busy schedule it’s really hard to uphold that,” Usmani said. “My best friend keeps advising me and [tells me], ‘Iman it’s time to go pray. Or come on, you’ve got this. You can go do it.’ Just this simple word of encouragement helps me know I have to go pray.”

A collective memory that each of these students has is the joy of attending camps or conferences with their respective groups. Traveling to various locations throughout the country, students have been able to meet many members of their own group or religion and discuss their beliefs. Uniquely, summer Young Life camp does not allow students to have access to their phones for the week-long trip, something Clipson grew to enjoy. 

“My favorite memory is camp,” Clipson said. “I’ve gone for three years and every time is completely different. It’s a little nerve-wracking at the beginning because I’m not gonna have my phone, but genuinely, after the first day, you don’t even want it. You genuinely have so much fun, there are so many activities and you get to connect with people, which I feel is hard now.”

Despite differing religious identifications, these MHS students collectively have developed a strong sense of community within their youth groups. Having a space to express their values and learn more about their faith has helped them to develop more of a good connection with their religion. .

“Through my experiences I have been able to grow my faith and learn to really rely on [the people in Young Life],” Clipson said. “I am able to lean on them and if I am going through something, share with them. Also, sometimes I’ve been able to see Christ through them. When I’m struggling or thinking about making a stupid decision, they help guide me.”